For
decades, American entertainment media have defined the Asian
image to all the world. And usually, that image has been
shaped by people with little understanding of Asian people
themselves--and with little foresight into how such images
would impact the Asian American community. Despite the good
intentions of individual producers and filmmakers, limited
and unbalanced portrayals of Asians have traditionally been
the norm in the entertainment industry.

Too often, an Asian face or accent is presented as a shorthand
symbol for anything antithetical to American or Western
culture. Too often, no distinctions are made between Asian
Americans--acculturated U.S. citizens with deep roots in
this nation--and Asian nationals who may or may not have
any loyalty to the United States. Too often, the media insinuate
that Asian Americans don't belong in their own country.

Not all Hollywood projects with Asians are objectionable,
however. In fact, some Hollywood movies--such as "Dragon:
The Bruce Lee Story" and "The Joy Luck Club"--have
been widely welcomed by Asian American audiences. But Hollywood
typically restricts its portrayals of Asians to a limited
range of clichéd stock characters. And this has affected
how Asian Americans are perceived and treated in the broader
society.

Below is a list of restrictive Asian portrayals that are
constantly repeated in the mainstream media and an explanation
of why each is objectionable. The seemingly incessant recurrence
of these depictions--coupled with the paucity of compensating
images--marks them as stereotypes . So, a portrayal
can act as a stereotype even if its creator doesn't intend
it to. Each description is followed by a "Stereotype-Buster"
that can combat the inaccuracies of such portrayals.

This list is not intended as a bunch of "thou shalt
nots" designed to inhibit the creative imagination.
To the contrary, it is designed to encourage Hollywood's
creative minds to think in new directions--to help our storytellers
create more interesting roles for actors by avoiding old,
stale images. It proposes to open up powerful and profitable
story ideas previously overlooked.

In short, this list hopes to help Hollywood prosper by embracing
a more inclusive vision of the human community.

Asian Americans as foreigners who cannot be assimilated.
Because they are racially and culturally distinctive from
the American mainstream, Asian people have been widely seen
as unable to be absorbed into American society. According
to this view, anything Asian is thus inherently "alien"
to America. This is reflected in the media by the disproportionate
number of unacculturated Asian characters speaking with
foreign accents. Acculturated Asian American personalities
have sometimes even been portrayed as unassimilated (such
as radio comedians satirizing Judge Lance Ito with an inappropriate
foreign accent). This portrayal ultimately suggests that
anything Asian must remain apart from American society.
However, the descendants of Asian immigrants have acculturated
themselves not only to the United States but also to non-Asian
societies throughout the world: Europe, Australia, Latin
America, Africa. Stereotype-Buster:
Portraying Asians as an integral part of the United States.
More portrayals of acculturated Asian Americansspeaking without foreign accents.

Asian cultures as inherently predatory.
For decades, Americans have viewed Asian immigrants as "taking"
from this country without giving anything back. This perception
was reinforced by early laws making it difficult for Asians
to immigrate and impossible for them to become naturalized
citizens. Although these laws have since been repealed,
the image of the Asian as alien predator still infuses popular
media. In the movie "Falling Down," for example,
the white main character accuses a Korean grocer of draining
American resources without bothering to fit into American
society. This accusation "justifies" the lead
character's destruction of the Korean's grocery store. Similarly,
the movie "Rising Sun" portrays Japanese businessmen
taking over American industry by murder and deceit. And
countless movies and TV episodes have portrayed Chinatowns
as breeding grounds of crime. Stereotype-Buster:
Asians as positive contributors to American society.

Asian Americans restricted to clichéd occupations.
Asians and Asian Americans make their living in a wide array
of professions, but too often, Asian American professionals
are depicted in a limited and predictable range of jobs:
restaurant workers, Korean grocers, Japanese businessmen,
Indian cab drivers, TV anchorwomen, martial artists, gangsters,
faith healers, laundry workers, and prostitutes. This misrepresents
the diversity of the Asian American work force. Stereotype-Buster:
Asian Americans in diverse, mainstream occupations: doctors,
lawyers, therapists, educators, U.S. soldiers, etc.

Asian racial features, names, accents, or mannerisms
as inherently comic or sinister. Because distinctive
Asian characteristics are less common in the United States,
movies and TV shows often fall back on them for quick and
easy gags or gasps. For example, the thick accent of the
goofy Chinese exchange student in "Sixteen Candles"--who
is given the sophomoric name "Long Duk Dong"--is
used for cheap laughs, while the numerous Fu Manchu movies
have presented the Asian character's culturally distinctive
speech and appearance as emblems of unfathomable evil. Stereotype-Buster:
Asian names or racial features as no more "unusual"
than those of whites.

Asians relegated to supporting roles in projects
with Asian or Asian American content. Usually,
when a project features Asian subject matter, the main character
will still be white. "The Killing Fields" and
"Seven Years in Tibet" are only two efforts that
follow this "rule." But the most infamous example
is the internment-camp movie "Come See the Paradise"
(a box-office flop), which misleadingly focused on a white
protagonist and pushed its more interesting Japanese American
characters into the background of their own history. However,
the success of "Gandhi," "The Last Emperor,"
and "The Joy Luck Club" proves that mainstream
audiences will pay to see Asian and Asian American lead
characters. Using Asian American protagonists can even create
more interesting and uncommon story ideas. Stereotype-Buster:
More Asian and Asian American lead roles.

Asian male sexuality as negative or non-existent.
Although Asian women are frequently portrayed as positive
romantic partners for white men ("Sayonara," "The
World of Suzie Wong," ad infinitum), Asian men are
almost never positively paired with women of any
race. Western society still seems to view Asian male sexuality
as a problem. Consequently, Asian men are usually presented
either as threatening corrupters of white women or as eunuchs
lacking any romantic feelings. For example, in the action
movie "Showdown in Little Tokyo," the Asian villain
forces himself upon a white woman and murders her before
threatening the Asian female love interest. Predictably,
the white hero kills the Asian villain and "wins"
the Asian woman--while the hero's Amerasian sidekick is
given no love life at all. Stereotype-Buster:
More Asian men as positive romantic leads.

Unmotivated white-Asian romance. In "Daughter
of the Dragon," the daughter of Fu Manchu lays her
eyes on a British detective and instantly falls in love
with him. "The Bounty" and "Come See the
Paradise" also contain scenes where an Asian woman
falls in love with a white man at first sight. The repetition
of this conceit sends the signal that Asian women are romantically
attracted to white men because they are white
. It insinuates that whiteness is inherently more important
than any other romantic quality and inherently more appealing
than any other skin color. Stereotype-Buster:
Interracial romances should be as well-motivated and well-developed
as same-race romances.

Asian women as "China dolls." Asian women
are often portrayed as exotic, subservient, compliant, industrious,
eager to please. While nicknamed the "China doll,"
"geisha girl," or "lotus blossom," this
sexually loaded stereotype isn't restricted to Chinese or
Japanese women. This portrayal is epitomized by the self-effacing
title character of the opera "Madame Butterfly,"
but it can also be seen in works like "Teahouse of
the August Moon" and "Tai-Pan." Stereotype-Buster:Asian women as self-confident and self-respecting, pleasing
themselves as well as their loved ones.

Asian women as "dragon ladies." Another
major female stereotype views Asian women as inherently
scheming, untrustworthy, and back-stabbing. This portrayal
is nicknamed the "dragon lady," after the Asian
villainess in the vintage comic strip "Terry and the
Pirates." Other examples of the stereotype are the
daughter of Fu Manchu (in numerous books and movies) and
the gangsters' molls in "The Year of the Dragon."
Stereotype-Buster:
Whenever villains are Asian, it's important that their villainy
not be attributed to their ethnicity.

Asians who prove how good they are by sacrificing
their lives. In the "classic" movie "Gunga
Din" (1939), the Indian water-carrier of the title
confirms his loyalty to the Imperial British army by warning
it of an attack by nationalist forces. Gunga Din is killed
in the onslaught. For decades afterwards, movies have portrayed
"positive" Asian characters affirming their loyalty
to the lead white characters--and thereby affirming their
"goodness"--by sacrificing themselves so that
the white characters may live. This depiction has come to
be known as the "Gunga Din stereotype." It can
still be seen in projects as recent as "Shogun,"
"The Year of the Dragon," and "Rising Sun."
Despite the intentions of the various filmmakers, the constant
repetition of this portrayal suggests that Asian life isn't
as valuable as white life. More cynically, this portrayal
may be seen as a more insidious way of saying: "The
only good Asian is a dead Asian." Stereotype-Buster:Positive Asian characters who are still alive at the
end of the story.

Asian Americans as the "model minority."
Upon hearing the Asian American community's concerns over
media images, some producers have made a good-faith effort
to create more positive portrayals. Unfortunately, some
of these portrayals go too far in the other direction, depicting
Asians as so flawless that they are robbed of any humanity.
In particular, the image of Asian Americans as over-achievers
with little emotional life (such as the Asian American classmate
in the canceled TV sitcom "Pearl") can be just
as confining and dehumanizing as any overtly negative portrayal.
No one is calling for Asian characters to be sanitized of
all shortcomings, just for them to be portrayed as well-rounded,
relatable human beings. Stereotype-Buster:The audience empathizing with an Asian character's flaws
and foibles.

Asianness as an "explanation" for the magical
or supernatural. Asia is often used as a quick and convenient
reason for something having magical or supernatural properties.
For years, the radio hero "The Shadow" was said
to have acquired his powers of invisibility from "the
mysterious East." No further explanation was necessary.
More recently, the Woody Allen movie "Alice" accounted
for the magical powers of an elixir by having the white
title character buy it from an Asian herbalist. Assumption:
Asian cultures are so strange and unknowable that they can
defy the physical realities of the Western world. Granted,
Asian magic can sometimes be portrayed positively in fiction.
But without more realistic images to provide balance, this
other-worldly conception of Asia risks painting a mystifying
and misleading picture of Asian cultures and Asian people.
Stereotype-Buster:
Asian cultures as no more or less magical than other cultures.

Anti-Asian racial slurs going unchallenged. Words
such as "chink," "Chinaman," "Jap,"
"Nip," "gook," "slope," "slant-eye,"
and "wog" are offensive to most Asian Americans.
Unfortunately, not all non-Asians recognize the offensiveness
of these terms. For example, the movie "Absolute Power"
has one of its heroes use the word "Chinaman"
in an off-handed manner. Stereotype-Buster:If
absolutely necessary for a film or TV project, anti-Asian
racial slurs should be contextualized as negative and insulting.

Asian arts as negative when practiced by Asians but positive
when practiced by whites. In the silent movie "The
Thief of Bagdad," an Asian villain employs magic to
conquer the Arabian city, but good-guy Douglas Fairbanks
learns the secret of this magic and uses it against the
villain. In the film "Rising Sun," Japanese businessmen
use their unique Asian philosophy to plot the take-over
of a U.S. company, but Sean Connery draws upon his knowledge
of this same philosophy to thwart their evil scheme. On
TV, an Asian who knows martial arts is likely to be a villain,
while a white person who knows martial arts is probably
the star of the show. Such portrayals convey the condescending
message that Asian arts can be put to positive use only
when practiced by white people (or by white actors in lead
Asian roles, as in the TV series "Kung Fu"). Stereotype-Buster:
Culturally distinct Asian skills positively and realistically
employed by Asian people.

Lead Asian roles labeled "Amerasian" or "Eurasian"
solely to accommodate white actors. Fact: Most projects
in the U.S. entertainment industry call for white lead characters.
Fact: Hardly any call for Asian lead characters. Fact: White
actors have traditionally been considered for Asian lead
roles, while Asian actors are almost never considered for
white lead roles. Result: White actors have disproportionately
more opportunities in the industry than Asian actors do.
So, whenever a white actor is cast in a lead Asian role,
this perpetuates a racial double standard and diminishes
already scarce opportunities for Asian American actors.
This situation sparked the heated--and widely misunderstood--casting
controversy over the Broadway musical "Miss Saigon."
Granted, some actors who are part-Asian but who can pass
for white (Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Tilly, "Lois &
Clark's" Dean Cain) have greater opportunities, but
they cannot be used as a barometer for most Asian American
actors. Stereotype-Buster:
Until the proverbial playing field is truly level, Asian
roles--especially lead roles--should be reserved for Asian
actors.

What, no Asians? The movie "Robin
Hood: Prince of Thieves" commendably found a place
for a prominent black character in the unlikely setting
of Medieval England. By contrast, contemporary TV shows
set in large cities--"L.A. Law," "Chicago
Hope," "Murphy Brown," etc.--don't include
a single regular Asian American character. What's wrong
with this picture? Asian people live all over the world
and in every region of the U.S. Stereotype-Buster:
Virtually any project--especially one with a contemporary
setting--can make room for Asian characters. And just because
a part isn't explicitly written as Asian doesn't necessarily
mean that it can't be cast with an Asian actor.

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